HC Deb 25 February 1948 vol 447 cc1936-7
20. Mr. Martin Lindsay

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement as to the latest position with regard to the repatriation of the British wives in Russia.

Mr. Bevin

I have given the most careful consideration to the various suggestions which have been made to me, but I have been reluctantly forced to the conclusion that none of the proposals made offers reasonable hope of being any more effective than the many representations which have already been made at the highest level. I deeply sympathise with the husbands and deplore the Soviet attitude, which remains entirely incomprehensible to us.

Mr. Lindsay

Will the Foreign Secretary inform the House why he considers it inappropriate to take the steps suggested in another place, namely, retaliatory action in the form of limiting the number of wives of Soviet citizens permitted to come to this country?

Mr. Bevin

I doubt very much whether that would be effective. I have not indulged in the retaliatory method yet. I do not want to be driven to it if I can help it.

Mr. Peter Freeman

Has my right hon. Friend been able to discover the reason why the U.S.S.R. are so anxious to retain these women and their children?

Mr. Bevin

They take an entirely different view. They claim that they are Soviet citizens. They do not take the same view about this as we do. Therefore, when I raised the matter with them, as I said in answer to a previous question, I urged that as the relevant law was not passed when they married, these women should be allowed to go. But it had no effect.

Mr. Austin

Would my right hon. Friend make it clear to the Soviet Union that a gesture by the Soviet Union in releasing these women would do much more towards cementing good will between the two countries than anything Mr. Molotov or Mr. Vishinsky could say at the conference table?

Mr. T. Reid

Is there any truth in the statement that we are retaining Soviet citizens, and preventing them from going back to Russia?

Mr. Bevin

No.

Mr. Blackburn

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the Government spokesman in another place promised to take effective action in this matter? Will he, therefore, reconsider it?